The 2024 Presidential Election could feature a rematch between two former presidents, with both former President Donald Trump and current president Joe Biden eyeing re-election. Neither candidate has announced plans to officially run in 2024. Although, a new report points to Trump announcing soon and being the first of the two to make things official.
What Happened: Reports say Donald Trump is getting ready to launch is 2024 presidential bid soon, instead of waiting to the midterm elections.
“There’s discussions about an early launch, and people are planning,” a source told the New York Post. “There are no specifics, but people are preparing. They are laying the groundwork.”
An official announcement could come in July and could be announced via social media instead of at an official event, according to sources.
Trump is behind Truth Social, a social media platform that is part of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), a company merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:DWAC). Trump remains banned from other social media platforms like Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) owned Facebook.
In recent interviews, Trump said he was close to making a decision about a third consecutive presidential campaign.
No official announcement or leak has pointed to an announcement date. As the Fourth of July holiday nears, it becomes possible that Trump could use the holiday to make an announcement.
In June, NBC News reported that sources close to Trump had been “informally” asked to reserve July 4 as a potential date of making an announcement, although those sources also acknowledged there were no definitive plans on launching the campaign on that day.
It should be noted that Trump’s Truth Social kicked off its public launch on President’s Day to coincide with the official holiday.
Related Link: Is This The End Of Donald Trump’s Political Career? Jan. 6 Hearings Cause GOP Donors To Leave
Why It’s Important: Trump was elected as President of the United States after winning the 2016 presidential election. For that election bid, Trump began his campaign in June 2015.
Trump has remained confident in recent interviews that he can win the GOP nomination for the 2024 presidential bid, despite a potentially close race with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, who has picked up support from the likes of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has been gaining momentum and recently was shown to be tied with Trump in a poll of New Hampshire Republican primary voters. Support for DeSantis has doubled since October, according to the recent survey.
A new report shows that large GOP donors could be shifting their donations to the likes of DeSantis and others amidst the findings of the January 6 hearings that involve Trump’s potential role in the crisis at the U.S. Capitol.
In early June, betting odds showed Trump the favorite to win in 2024 despite no official announcement from many expected candidates on if they were officially running. The betting odds on the Smarkets betting exchange in the United Kingdom were:
Donald Trump: +275
Joe Biden: +550
Ron DeSantis: +650
Kamala Harris: +1600
At the time of writing, DeSantis is now listed as the favorite with a 20.8% chance of winning the 2024 election versus 20.0% for Trump, and 14.7% for Biden.
Last week, it was announced that a federal grand jury in New York issued subpoenas to members of the Digital World Acquisition board of directors. The investigation along with existing investigations by the SEC and Justice Department could prevent the merger or delay an expected close date in the second half of 2022.
Give Benzinga your take:
Should Donald Trump launch his 2024 Presidential campaign on July 4th?
— Benzinga (@Benzinga) July 3, 2022
Price Action: Digital World Acquisition shares closed at $24.20 on Friday, versus a 52-week range of $9.84 to $175.
Photo: Courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr